Y-V! 


UNIVERSITY   OF   CALIFORNIA  agricultural  ExperimentStation 

COLLEGE    OF  AGRICULTURE  E.  J.  WlCKSON.  Acting  Director 

BERKELEY,   CALIFORNIA 


CIRCULAR  No.  31 

(July,  1907.) 


THE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE  AND  ITS  RELATIONSHIP  TO 
THE  SCHEME  OF  NATIONAL  EDUCATION. 


BY 

E.  J.  WlCKSON. 


Little  more  than  ex  parte  statement  can  be  expected  from  one  whose  thought 
and  work  have  lain  wholly  on  one  side  of  a  subject,  and  with  such  consciousness 
of  lack  of  breadth  I  am  impelled  to  explain  that  my  subject  is  not  of  my 
choosing  and  if  I  should  over-exalt  the  importance  of  the  Agricultural  College 
and  its  relationship  to  the  scheme  of  National  Education,  may  I  escape  censure 
because  I  neither  offered  to  write  nor  chose  the  subject  of  the  writing?  I 
simply  go  to  Nineveh  and  cry  as  commanded. 

And  yet  all  who  observe,  even  but  casually  or  remotely,  the  progress  of  the 
world's  effort  at  institutional  education  are  aware  that  the  various  forms  of 
applied  knowledge  commonly  termed  ' '  practical  education ' '  are  over-whelmingly 
popular:  that  governments  and  individuals  give  most  freely  for  their  promo- 
tion: that  pupils  flock  to  their  dispensaries:  and  that  statesmen  of  all  civilized 
and  being-civilized  countries  invoke  them  and  count  the  degree  of  their  popular 
attainment  the  measure  of  future  national  achievement.  Probably  every  nation 
in  the  world  if  called  upon  to  propose  a  scheme  of  national  education  for  a 
nation  just  about  to  be  born  would  lay  out  a  curriculum  of  bird  songs  and 
flowers,  mud  pies  and  hammer  strokes,  wheels  and  levers,  lathes  and  looms, 
dynamos  and  dynamite,  atmospheric  nitrate  making  and  advanced  commercial 
methods  which  might  obscure  even  the  three  R's  of  blessed  memory.  These 
older  nations  for  themselves  are  curbed  in  their  educational  reforms  by  vested 
rights  and  ancestral  beliefs  and  thus  prevented  from  realizing  popular  ideals 
in  education  too  rapidly,  but  one  can  easily  see  what  revolutions  might  occur 
were  these  wholesome  restraints  removed. 

With  such  a  strong  bent  of  the  popular  will  toward  the  practical  in  educa- 
tion it  is  very  clear  that  the  next  half  century  will  see  great  changes  in 
educational  methods  and  materials,  if  not  in  the  very  ideals  of  education.  It, 
therefore,  becomes  worth  while  to  endeavor  to  descry  the  relationship  of  what 
we  have  to  that  which  we  may  attain,  and  this  will  be  the  line  along  which  I 

*  Before  the  Department  of  Technical  Education  of  the  National  Educational 
Association,  Los  Angeles,  July  11,  1907. 


shall   pursue   the   agricultural   college   and   its   relationship    to    the    scheme   of 
National  Education. 

In  the  first  place  I  must  ask  that  the  term  agricultural  college  be  considered 
a  synonym  of  agricultural  instruction.  Those  institutions  which  have  "agri- 
cultural college' '  as  a  distinctive  name  do  not  comprise  or  contain  the  agricul- 
tural instruction  of  the  United  States.  There  is  only  one  pure  College  of 
Agriculture  in  the  United  States— that  of  Massachusetts.  The  reports  of  the 
United  States  Commissioner  of  Education  endeavor  to  segregate  and  classify 
higher  institutions  into  two  categories:  (a)  "Universities,  Colleges,  and  Tech- 
nological Schools:  (&)  "agricultural  and  mechanical  colleges,"  but  it  has  to 
be  stated  that  institutions  of  the  land  grant  class  are  also  included  in  the 
statistical  tables  of  the  former  class,  so  that  after  all  the  grouping  is  not  by 
institutions,  but  by,  subjects  of  instruction,  so  far,  at  least,  as  technological 
undertakings  are  concerned.  The  Commissioner's  Keport  for  1905  enumerates 
the  following: 

Universities,  Colleges,  and  Technical  Schools  619 

Schools  of   Technology   44 

Agricultural  and  Mechanical  Colleges  66 

As  already  stated,  these  figures  do  not  represent  numerical  segregation 
because  the  first  group  includes  most  of  the  second  and  third.  They  are  not 
available  for  strict  classification  by  subject  either,  because  on  this  basis  many 
more  of  the  first  group  should  reappear  in  the  second  or  third  groups:  for 
example,  Harvard  University  with  its  Bussey  Institution  and  Yale  University 
with  its  Sheffield  School  are  both  omitted  from  the  agricultural  group,  to  which 
they  are  conspicuously  entitled  to  admission.  Many  other  higher  institutions 
should  also  be  claimed  as  agricultural.  In  discussing  statistics  of  this  sort 
-Dr.  True  and  Mr.  Crosby  in  their  pamphlet  on  "The  American  System  of  Agri- 
cultural Education"  fitly  remark:  "Owing  to  the  complicated  organization 
of  many  of  the  institutions  having  courses  in  agriculture  *  *  *  it  is  im- 
practicable to  show  by  statistics  with  exactness  the  means  and  facilities  for 
strictly  agricultural  education.  The  general  statistics  of  the  land  grant  insti- 
tutions may,  however,  serve  to  show  with  how  great  an  enterprise,  devoted 
chiefly  to  higher  education  along  scientific  lines  and  industrial  lines,  agriculture 
has  been  joined  in  permanent  alliance  and  to  indicate  in  some  measure  how 
extensive  are  the  educational  facilities  at  the  command  of  the  youth  of  the 
country  who  have  sufficient  intelligence,  courage,  and  perseverance  to  follow 
out  long  and  thorough  courses  of  study  in  agriculture."  The  authors  quoted 
evidently  are  apprehensive  lest  the  statistics  of  the  land  grant  colleges  should 
include  too  much  for  agriculture.  I  believe  that,  though  this  may  be  true,  they 
also  exclude  too  much:  but  how  excess  and  lack  stand  related  I  do  not  know. 

It  may  be  important,  however  to  "show  with  how  great  an  enterprise 
*  *  *  agriculture  has  been  joined  in  permanent  alliance,"  by  citing  the 
progress  in  value  of  institutional  property,  income,  teachers  and  pupils  of  the 
sixty-six  agricultural  and  mechanical  colleges. 

Year  Valuation 

1895 $51,274,546 

1900 59,325,119 

1905 81,251,764 


Revenue 

Instructors 

Students 

$5,178,580 

1,539 

25,723 

6,431,038 

2,013 

39,505 

11,767,154 

2,672 

53,518 

Surely  "enterprise"  is  just  the  word  for  an  effort  which  more  than  doubles 
its  income  and  its  opportunities  in  a  decade.  It  would  be  pleasant  to  under- 
take analysis  of  these  figures  and  to  determine  the  causes  operating  strongly 
in  the  previous  decades,  which  forced  this  wonderful  development  of  an  educa- 
tional idea  just  at  the  hinging  of  the  two  centuries  in  which  we  are  permitted 
to  live  and  act.  The  limitation  of  this  paper,  however,  precludes  reference  to 
causes  and  agencies.     Two  claims  of  significance  must  be  presented: 

First:  the  gains  in  property  and  income  of  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical 
Colleges  are  far  greater  than  their  proportion  of  the  gains  of  all  institutions 
for  higher  education,  viz. : 

Total  property  valuation  of  619  Universities  and  Col-           1900  05 

leges  and  Schools  of  Technology  $391,230,784  $514,840,412 

Income  of  the  same  institutions  33,259,612  41,775,101 

Total  property  valuation  of  66  Agricultural  and  Me- 
chanical  Colleges    59,325,119  81,497,445 

Income  of  the  same  institutions  6,431,038  11,659,955 

By  subtraction  then  (because  the  619  institutions  include  the  66) : 

Total  value  of  property  of  553  institutions  $331,905,172       $433,342,967 

Income  of  same  institutions  26,828,574  30,115,146 

Therefore,  while  553  other  institutions  made  a  property  gain  in  five  years  of 
$101,437,795,  66  agricultural  colleges  gained  $22,172,326;  or  11  per  cent,  of  the 
institutions  made  24  per  cent,  of  the  gain.  In  income  the  contrast  is  far  more 
striking.  The  increase  of  income  of  the  553  institutions  was  $3,286,572,  while 
the  increase  of  income  of  the  66  was  $5,264,917;  or  11  per  cent,  of  the  institu- 
tions made  about  61  per  cent,  of  the  total  enhancement  of  revenue  of  the  whole 
list  of  universities,  colleges,  and  technological  schools  of  the  United  States. 
This  indicates  most  clearly  the  popularity  of  these  institutions  and  as  their 
support  comes  from  governments  and  not  from  individuals,  it  argues  generosity 
springing  from  popular  appreciation  and  expectation  which  far  surpasses  pri- 
vate munificence. 

Second:  it  is  significant  also  that  the  revenue  of  our  agricultural  colleges 
is  increasing  at  a  more  rapid  rate  than  their  property  valuations.  This  is  a 
working  capital:  something  to  work  with,  not  to  wait  for.  It  is,  of  course, 
admitted  that  a  vast  endowment  would  be  a  surety  of  the  future,  and,  there- 
fore, earnestly  to  be  desired,  but  the  fact  that  such  large  sums  of  money  are 
voted  to  be  immediately  used  is  really  a  very  clear  token  of  popular  confidence 
and  anticipation  of  immediate  benefit.  The  actual  endowment  of  these  insti- 
tutions is  the  wealth  and  outlook  of  the  nation  and  of  the  states,  than  which 
there  is  nothing  more  productive  and  secure. 

The  second  division  of  the  subject  assigned  to  me  is  the  "relationship  of 
the  agricultural  college  to  the  scheme  of  national  education."  Here,  too,  I 
must  ask  to  speak  of  the  subject  of  agriculture  rather  than  of  the  college  of 
agriculture  as  an  institution.  Fifty  years  ago  the  need  of  such  institutions  and 
their  prospective  relationships  were  popular  subjects  of  discussion.  To-day 
We  find  them  strongly  established  in  every  state  and  territory;  generously  sup- 
ported, as  figures  already  cited  indicate;  and  doing  such  a  commendable  work 
in  instruction  and  research  that,  in  addition  to  other  sources  of  increase,  grants 


from  the  general  government  for  both  lines  of  effort  have  practically  doubled 
within  the  last  twenty  years.  They  are  thus  deeply  and  permanently  planted 
in  the  scheme  of  national  education  of  the  United  States,  and  I  confess  I  can- 
not discuss  their  relationship  to  such  a  scheme  as  though  they  were  apart  from 
it  or  a  thing  still  to  be  provided  for  it.  The  place  of  the  higher  institutions 
providing  instruction  in  agriculture  within  the  scheme  of  national  education, 
and  their  duties  and  opportunities  therein  seem  to  me  more  fruitful  subjects  for 
contemplation. 

It  is,  I  believe,  particularly  fortunate  that  instruction  in  agriculture  has 
developed  almost  entirely  in  institutions  which  were  also  devoted  to  the  pro- 
motion of  other  branches  of  learning.  The  success  of  the  Massachusetts  Agri- 
cultural College,  with  a  purely  agricultural  curriculum,  cannot  be  cited  as 
pointing  in  another  direction,  because  in  such  a  small  commonwealth,  so  well 
provided  with  other  outfits  for  higher  education,  it  is  in  effect,  though  not  in 
organic  act,  a  department  of  agriculture.  Such  a  result  could  not  have  been 
attained  in  a  larger  or  a  newer  state  without  agencies  for  higher  education. 
The  association  of  agriculture  with  mechanic  arts  "without  excluding  other 
scientific  and  classical  studies"  in  the  original  Morrill  act  of  1862  was  so  wise 
in  its  conception  and  grand  in  its  results  that  it  is  hard  to  fully  measure  its 
influence,  not  only  upon  the  general  educational  advancement  of  the  country, 
but  upon  the  recognition  of  agriculture  as  the  greatest  of  applied  sciences  and 
a  treasure-house  of  the  best  pedagogical  materials.  It  seems  to  me  unques- 
tionable that  the  isolation  of  agriculture  and  mechanic  arts  from  other  studies, 
as  might  have  been  accomplished  if  the  Morrill  act  had  not  ordered  "liberal 
and  practical  education  of  the  industrial  classes,"  would  have  postponed  in- 
definitely the  intellectual  and  industrial  advancement  which  the  great  central 
and  western  regions  of  the  country  have  now  attained.  For  the  association  of 
agriculture  with  broad  culture  has  given  us  leaders  and  teachers  of  depth  and 
grasp  and  its  association  with  other  technological  studies  and  researches  has 
produced  experts  and  engineers  for  all  the  various  undertakings  which  the 
development  of  agriculture  on  a  great  American  scale  required.  The  elevation 
of  agriculture  to  its  proper  place  in  economics,  and  of  the  farmer  himself  to 
industrial  self-consciousness,  both  of  which  advantages  may  now  be  claimed  to 
have  been  fairly  attained,  are  due  to  the  scientific  method  and  scientific  achieve- 
ments which  have  illumined  and  advanced  policies  and  practices.  Thousands 
of  years  of  poetic  and  oratorical  tributes  to  the  nobility  of  agriculture  accom- 
plished less  than  a  few  decades  of  modern  science  and  the  wisdom  of  leading 
agriculture  to  the  educational  altar,  where  science  awaited  her  approach,  is 
granTl  to  contemplate.     "Wisdom  is  justified  of  her  children." 

And  now  agriculture  has  risen  to  a  capacity  for  wider  service,  not  only  to 
herself  but  to  humanity.  In  the  scheme  of  enriched  and  widely  distributed 
technical  education  which  the  present  state  of  the  world  demands,  agriculture 
holds  the  position  of  leadership,  and  all  educational  undertakings  for  advance- 
ment of  manufactures,  commerce,  transportation,  are  largely  related  to  it  or 
conditioned  upon  it.  This  is  true,  first,  because  of  the  fundamental  character 
of  agriculture  as  a  world  supporting  industry.  Agriculture  underlies  all  in- 
dustries and  draws  upon  all  sciences.  There  is  no  work  of  man  so  deep  and  so 
broad.     Agriculture  leads  all  technical   education  in   our   national   scheme  be- 


cause  no  other  branch  of  it  has  such  high  value  in  its  instructional  outfit  nor  such 
breadth  in  its  geographical  distribution.  It  is  true  that  the  number  of  pupils 
is  still  incommensurate  with  the  provision  made  for  them,  but,  judging  by 
recent  increase,  this  will  soon  be  changed. 

It  is  fortunate  for  the  advancement  of  technical  education  generally,  which 
both  public  and  private  generosity  join  in  promoting,  that  agriculture  is  the 
sort  of  applied  science  and  comprehensive  art  that  it  is.  Its  very  nature  con- 
stitutes it  the  best  foundation  for  such  advancement  and  the  one  upon  which 
ii:  is  easiest  to  build.  Its  relation  to  many  sciences  and  its  universality  as  a 
pursuit  of  men  are  phases  of  its  suitability  for  the  educational  issue  which  is 
now  arising.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  a  third  term  will  henceforward 
be  employed  in  describing  educational  branches  which  are  in  good  standing. 
First  came  "  letters, "  and  for  centuries  it  practically  covered  educational  effort. 
A  few  decades  ago  "science,"  after  a  long  struggle,  arose  to  honorable  recog- 
nition as  educational  material,  and  the  formula  was  ' '  letters  and  science. ' ' 
The  third  term  which  must  ere  long  be  added  is  " industry"  and  "letters, 
science,  and  industry"  will  be  recognized  as  equally  capable  of  pursuit  toward 
an  equally  satisfactory  and  honorable  educational  end.  Industry  as  a  peda- 
gogical quantity  must,  of  course,  be  used  in  accordance  with  sound  pedagogic 
principles  and  for  true  educational  ends,  which  may,  however,  require  increasing 
in  number  because  an  industrial  point  of  view  and  purpose  must  be  included 
as  worth  knowing,  not  only  for  use  but  for  culture.  The  changes  in  present 
educational  philosophies  and  curricula  to  include  the  item  "industry,"  and  all 
that  pertains  to  it  in  thought  an:l  action,  will  not  prove  so  great  and  appalling 
as  those  which  confronted  "letters"  when  seience  claimed  its  seat.  Nor  is  it 
apprehended  that  the  actual  teaching  of  "industry"  will  be  any  more  crude 
or  inadequate  than  were  the  beginnings  of  either  letters  or  science.  In  fact 
enough  has  been  done  already  to  demonstrate  that  the  elements  of  industry 
are  as  capable  of  presentation  and  demonstration  to  attain  true  ends  of  edu- 
cation as  are  the  elementary  facts  and  theories  of  letters  or  science,  and  be- 
cause of  our  broader  view  of  educational  means  and  ends  there  is  every  reason 
to  expect  that  the  elements  of  industry  will  enter  our  lower  schools  and  the 
inspiring  researches  and  expositions  of  industrial  materials,  methods,  relations, 
and  point  of  view  will  occupy  our  higher  institutions,  in  much  less  time  and 
in  a  more  satisfactory  way  than  science  has  done,  because  the  scientific  method 
is  now  existent  and  forceful  and  will  include  all  these  quantities  in  its  com- 
prehensive grasp.  When  science  began  its  educational  career  this  method  had 
to  be  developed  and  to  win  recognition. 

Now  if  I  may  assume  that  this  view  is  tenable,  what  are  the  duties  of  the 
agricultural  colleges  to  the  attainment  of  such  ends?  Several  suggest  them- 
selves: 

First:  the  agricultural  college  should  demonstrate  by  living  instances  the 
value  of  an  agricultural  course  for  general  educational  ends.  This  can  be  done 
by  good  teaching,  by  effective  research,  by  scholarly  aspiration,  and  by  breadth 
of  view.  It  is  important  to  show  that  a  thorough  agricultural  course  not  only 
leads  to  vocational  expertness  and  success,  but  is  promotive  of  manhood  and 
efficient  citizenship.  To  this  end  the  cultural  elements  as  embodied  in  history, 
economics,  languages,  and  literature  should  not  be  repressed  or  excluded.  To 
be   a  man   among  men   has  never  been   sufficiently  considered   an   agricultural 


attribute,  but  in  the  future  it  cannot  be  disregarded.  Whatever  it  may  be 
deemed  wise  to  do  in  improving  and  advancing  our  agricultural  colleges  in 
technical  lines,  or  how  much  pre-professional  work  may  be  provided  for  in  the 
four  years'  course,  it  will  not  do  to  pursue  these  plans  too  far.  Kequirement  of 
post-graduate  study  for  professional  qualification  is  a  much  lighter  burden  upon 
a  man  than  condemnation  to  narrowness  and  isolation.  It  is  essential,  there- 
fore, to  maintain  a  good  amount  of  general  culture  work  in  the  agricultural 
course,  not  only  for  the  sake  of  those  who  follow  it,  but  that  it  may  exert  an 
influence  in  favor  of  a  greater  amount  of  liberalization  in  other  technical  courses 
with  which  it  may  be  associated.  Such  courses  are  now  too  narrow  and  their 
product  not  symmetrically  developed.  A  graduate  should  not  only  be  a  tech- 
nical expert  but  a  "gentleman  and  scholar,"  manifesting  such  quality  by  daily 
walk  and  conversation  and  not  by  his  "locked,  lettered  and  braw,  brass  collar" 
furnished  on  commencement  day.     Robert  Burns '  standard  was  not  written  for  men. 

Second:  the  agricultural  element  in  higher  institutions  must  join  with  other 
elements  of  applied  science  in  the  earnest  maintenance  and  promotion  of  the 
pure  science  elements.  From  such  sources  in  the  recent  past  have  come  to  in- 
dustry some  of  its  most  effective  promoting  forces.  The  very  existence  of  an 
applied  science  is  obviously  conditioned  upon  the  discovery  of  truth  to  apply. 
It  would  be  destructive  to  undertake  to  lift  a  stream  above  its  source.  As 
agriculture  is  above  all  industries  the  one  to  which  the  greatest  number  of 
sciences  make  contribution,  it  should  be  the  disposition  of  those  who  are  now, 
by  the  Adams  act,  especially  endowed  for  "original  researches  or  experiments 
bearing  directly  on  the  agricultural  industry"  to  appreciate  the  loftiness  of 
science  for  its  own  sake  and  to 'win  students  to  proper  contemplation  of  its 
point  of  view.  The  term  science  is  becoming  so  common  that  there  is  quite  a 
danger  of  an  inadequate  conception  of  its  character  and  function. 

Third:  the  foregoing  are  incidental:  the  crowning  duty  and  opportunity  of 
the  agricultural  colleges  at  the  present  time  are  to  demonstrate  the  educational 
value  of  the  so-called  agricultural  studies  and  to  prepare  teachers  to  render 
that  value  available.  Here  again  it  is  fortunate  that  agriculture  touches  so 
many  branches  of  natural  science,  and  so  many  arts,  at  so  many  points  of  contact: 
it  is  not  only  fortunate  but  this  nature  of  agriculture,  as  already  intimated,  is 
its  essential  qualification  for  leadership  in  the  wide  acceptance  of  technical 
subjects  in  educational  work  of  all  altitudes  which  is  evidently  imminent  and 
such  leadership  imposes  heavy  duties  and  responsibilities. 

It  is  not  necessary  now  to  contend  that  elementary  science  has  pedagogic 
value  in  the  lower  schools:  that  is  universally  conceded.  It  should  not  be  neces- 
sary either  to  contend  that  elementary  science  instruction  is  rendered  concrete, 
rational,  and  successful  by  employing  it  to  arouse  and  strengthen  powers  of 
accurate  observation  and  correct  reasoning  in  the  child  mind,  and  that  the 
scientific  method  is  capable  of  reduction  to  such  simple  terms  that  a  child  can 
not  only  grasp  its  purpose,  but  is  awakened  and  delighted  with  it.  The  duty 
of  the  agricultural  college  of  each  state  to  lead  in  the  effort  to  render  this 
branch  of  instruction  spirited,  correct  in  method  and  effective,  and  to  displace 
as  fast  as  possible  perfunctory  work  and  to  exclude  fadism,  seems  clear.  To 
this  end  it  should  directly  assist  the  normal  schools  by  preparation  of  special 
teachers  and  otherwise  promoting  their  undertakings  in  these  lines  and  should 
cooperate  with  the  educational  departments  of  institutions  with  which  it  may 


be  a  part  to  secure  qualification  of  teachers  for  such  work  in  primary  and 
secondary  schools.  The  assumption  of  a  new  line  of  work  in  this  direction  is 
provided  for  by  the  Nelson  Amendment  to  the  Agricultural  Appropriation  Act 
approved  March  4,  1907,  which  provides  that  the  agricultural  colleges  may  use 
a  portion  of  the  additional  money  accruing  to  them  by  this  act,  "for  providing 
courses  for  the  special  preparation  of  instructors  for  teaching  the  elements  of 
agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts." 

The  situation  with  the  colleges  of  agriculture  with  reference  to  this  under- 
taking is  carefully  set  forth  in  an  excellent  article  in  the  Experiment  Station 
Eecord  for  February,  1907,  from  which  the  following  summary  statement  is 
taken: 

"A  careful  survey  of  the  whole  field  reveals  the  fact  that  there  is  as  yet 
no  adequate  provision  for  the  preparation  of  teachers  to  take  charge  of  agri- 
cultural courses  in  schools  of  agriculture,  normal  schools,  or  other  secondary 
schools,  nor  is  there  any  definite  attention  or  encouragement  given  to  the  pro- 
fessional training  of  instructors  for  the  agricultural  work  in  agricultural  col- 
leges. The  normal  schools  as  at  present  organized  cannot  do  this  higher  work, 
nor  can  it  be  done  by  the  great  universities  unless  they  maintain  colleges  of 
agriculture. 

The  duty  of  training  teachers  of  agriculture  for  both  colleges  and  secondary 
schools  will,  therefore,  under  present  conditions,  fall  upon  the  agricultural 
colleges,  and  the  needs  of  the  time  are  so  great  as  to  make  this  duty  almost 
imperative.  Some  of  the  larger  agricultural  colleges,  especially  those  which 
are  departments  of  universities,  might  well  provide  facilities  and  encourage- 
ment for  fundamental  research  in  the  science  of  education  in  its  relation  to 
agricultural  subjects,  and  all  should  make  provision  for  training  teachers  of 
agriculture. ' ' 

Thus  is  outlined  a  service  which  the  agricultural  colleges  can  clearly  render. 
As  elementary  industrial  subjects  are  rising  in  educational  recognition  and 
service,  an  opportunity  for  the  colleges  of  agriculture  in  universities  to  come 
into  closer  cooperative  connection  with  the  departments  of  education  and  of 
the  natural  sciences  and  of  commerce  in  joint  efforts  for  school  enrichment  and 
improvement,  should  be  enthusiastically  accepted.  It  will  strengthen  the  posi- 
tion of  the  agricultural  colleges  within  their  immediate  environment  and 
increase  their  influence  with  the  public  at  large. 

The  relationship,  then,  of  the  colleges  of  agriculture  "to  the  national  scheme 
of  education"  as  my  subject  phrases  it,  is  that  of  leadership  in  the  most  im- 
portant work  of  rendering  the  curricula  of  the  lower  schools  more  rational; 
their  materials  better  suited  to  their  environment  and  more  effective  in  helping 
the  youth  to  find  himself  in  life  work  and  associations.  These  institutions 
more  than  any  others,  perhaps,  are  so  placed  that  they  can  lay  a  firm  hold  upon 
science  and  higher  branches  of  learning  with  one  hand  and  upon  the  essentials 
of  industrial  efficiency  and  right  living  with  the  other.  The  association  of 
these  elements  in  individual  character  is  the  problem  of  the  ages.  It  was  descried 
b}'  the  ancients  in  the  dawn  of  civilization;  it  will  be  solved  in  the  millenium. 
Exceptional  activity  in  the  phase  which  it  presents  to  this  generation  is  certainly 
within  the  scope  of  the  agricultural  colleges. 


